Dr. Vassiliki Benetou is an Associate Professor of Hygiene and Epidemiology at the Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, of the School of Medicine at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Greece. She is a registered Pediatrician. She earned a Master of Science Degree in Epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health and completed her PhD in Epidemiology at Athens Medical School. She has actively participated in many multi-centered European research projects, among which the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, EPIC-Elderly, EPIC-Elderly-NAH, EUROSTROKE, Promotion of Breastfeeding in Europe, European Master in Public Health Nutrition, European Nutrition and Health Report I και II, EUROCADET, EURRECA (EURopean micronutrient RECommendations Aligned), SPAN (Science for Prevention Academic Network) CHANCES, as well as, in national research projects in the sector of public health and epidemiology. She teaches Epidemiology- Research Methodology and Preventive Medicine in undergraduate students of Athens Medical School and post-graduate students of Athens Medical School and School of Nursing of NKUA, Agricultural University of Athens, Medical School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the National School of Public Health. She is Deputy Director of the Postgraduate program «Epidemiology – Research Methodology inBiomedical sciences, clinical practice and public health», run in the Dept. of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, at Athens Medical School.
Her research interests are focused on nutritional epidemiology, cancer epidemiology, chronic disease epidemiology, as well as, public health nutrition issues, such as infant feeding and breastfeeding. She has worked for the development of national dietary guidelines and national guidelines for the introduction of solids into infants’ diet. She has worked actively as member of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Nutrition and Health at the Dept. of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics of Athens Medical School. Currently, she is a member of the National Committee for Nutrition Policy. V. Benetou had until December 2019, 127 publications in peer reviewed journals indexed in PubMed, with more than 6.000 citations and h-index=43 (from Scopus).